The present invention is directed to a coupling having a male adapter part and a female adapter part which may be joined together by a simple axial movement toward one another. The coupling utilizes, on the female one of the mating adapter parts, a series of circumferentially positioned balls located in apertures of a wall of such part. The male adapter part is provided with a sleeve which, when the parts are disconnected, is yieldingly urged to a forward position. The sleeve encircles the body of the male adapter part. When engaged, the sleeve retains the balls of the female adapter part in an annular groove of the male adapter part to thereby effect the connection.
A number of prior art patents utilize various configurations of balls and sleeves for effecting the joining of a male coupling member to a female coupling member. See for example the following U.S. Pat. Nos. RE 34,781, 4,222,411, 4,892,117, 5,076,324, 5,139,049, 5,179,976, 5,244,010 and 5,339,862. It should be noted that, in all of such prior art patents, the balls and the sleeve are part of the same coupling member, namely, the female member. Under the present invention, the balls are located on the female coupling member while the release sleeve is located on the male coupling member. This feature is a significant factor in providing a reliable coupling in which the parts may be easily connected by a simple axial movement toward one another and which will be effective under extreme conditions of cold temperature.
The coupling of the present invention is useful in a wide variety of fluid flow systems; however, it is particularly well adapted for use in a fluid flow system for cryogenics such as liquid nitrogen in which the liquid flowing through the system and the coupling may have temperatures on the order of -320.degree. F. The design of the coupling of the present invention permits the parts to be readily connected and disconnected while opening and closing the respective poppet valves without the parts becoming frozen and rendered inoperable as a result of the flow of liquid at such low temperatures.